American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism: The Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study

Abstract

Background The American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 metric is being used to track the population's cardiovascular health ( CVH ) toward a 2020 goal for improvement. The metric includes body mass index ( BMI ), blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, physical activity ( PA ), cigarette smoking, and diet. We hypothesized a lower risk of venous thromboembolism ( VTE ) with favorable Life's Simple 7 scores. Methods and Results REGARDS recruited 30 239 black and white participants ≥45 years of age across the United States in 2003–2007. A 14‐point summary score for Life's Simple 7 classified participants into inadequate (0 to 4 points), average (5 to 9 points), and optimal (10 to 14 points) categories. Hazard ratios ( HR s) of incident VTE were calculated for these categories, adjusting for age, sex, race, income, education, and region of residence. For comparison, HR s of VTE were calculated using the Framingham 10‐year coronary risk score. There were 263 incident VTE cases over 5.0 years of follow‐up; incidence rates per 1000 person‐years declined from 2.9 (95% confidence interval [ CI ], 2.3 to 3.7) among those in the inadequate category to 1.8 (95% CI , 1.4 to 2.4) in the optimal category. Compared to the inadequate category, participants in the average category had a 38% lower VTE risk (95% CI , 11 to 57) and participants in the optimal category had a 44% lower risk (95% CI , 18 to 62). The individual score components related to lower VTE risk were ideal PA and BMI . There was no association of Framingham Score with VTE . Conclusions Life's Simple 7, a CVH metric, was associated with reduced VTE risk. Findings suggest that efforts to improve the population's CVH may reduce VTE incidence.

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Affiliated Institutions

• University of Minnesota US
• University of Vermont US
• University of Alabama at Birmingham US

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